By Howard Packowitz
NORMAL – Normal’s town government is hosting a citizens’ summit Thursday night to help elected leaders develop a strategic plan.
The public is invited to attend the three-hour meeting starting at 6 p.m. at the Community Activity Center at 1110 Douglas Street in One Normal Plaza.
The idea for the session came from a sometimes contentious town council retreat recently about spending and other issues.
The meeting comes only three days after the council voted 4-3 to forego modest property tax relief of just over $6 next year for the average homeowner, and instead restore almost $97,000 to hire a communications specialist. That action generated plenty of debate on social media, and sparked a call among some council critics for the public to attend the summit.
Like the retreat, a professional facilitator will conduct the session. Council members were each asked to invite five to seven other participants. It was an assignment Kathleen Lorenz said she took very seriously.
“I thought about inviting a teacher. I thought about inviting retired persons. I thought about inviting the person who’s seen the value of his house dramatically decrease because of some of the changes going on in this community in the housing market. I thought of the person that is just like the biggest cheerleader ever,” said Lorenz.
Council members will attend, but won’t speak or even answer questions.
“These are the rules we agreed to, that we’re there to observe what the citizens are doing,” said Mayor Chris Koos.
“We’re not going to say, ‘wait a minute, you need to consider this.’ None of that happens. This is for the citizens to actually do a deep dive into some of the issues the council is dealing with,” Koos said.
Participants will separate into smaller focus groups and discuss agenda topics, including Normal’s vision, its mission, goals, and spending priorities.
Howard Packowitz can be reached at [email protected]
